FERGIE’S FEINT: OBERTAN
The year was 2005. One man ruled the football pitch. What his brain thought, his feet did. And whatever his feet wanted to do, the ball did. There was no-one more skillful, no-one more dangerous. Crowds flocked to see him. Fans adored him. Authorities honored him.
He possessed pace, strength and amazing skills. His tricks were like circus performances – almost unbelievable! Ronaldinho has fallen off his perch quite drastically. At one stage Barcelona’s crown jewel, now fighting to reignite his career at AC Milan, Ronnie is a shadow of his past self. But the Ballon d’Or winner left us with one of the most memorable images in football. We call it ‘the feint’. At his best, defenders were left dazed and bewildered by his trickery. This one always got the best of them. A look to the right… then a quick dink of the ball to the left. He had us all looking one way and only once we had committed… would send the game the other.
Ronaldinho could be past his best but there is someone else who may just have employed this trick… and we could all have fallen for it again!
Sir Alex isn’t playing football anymore (and even if he was, I doubt he would have been able to pull such a trick off). He does however play another game better than pretty much everyone else.
Everyone wrote off Manchester United’s chances without Cristiano Ronaldo. Even more was said about who would replace the ‘irreplaceable’ Portuguese star.
Enter Sir Alex with a little feint…
There was not a lot of activity in the United boardroom. Players were being tipped to join from all corners of the globe. Ribery was coming, Silva was on his way, Robben was in a swap deal…
In the end, three men arrived at Old Trafford. Two of them were met with a little surprise. Michael Owen still has goal scoring ability and was a clever piece of business. Antonio Valencia has been a long term target for Fergie and his arrival was no surprise. Gabriel Obertan was a real surprise to everyone!
Many presumed that Valencia was there to ‘replace’ Ronaldo. In theory that is what he has done. The ex Wigan man has slotted in on the right and has produced some pretty impressive performances. He isn’t as flashy as CR7 but he does get the job done.
I think we are all looking right but Sir Alex is about to pull trick on us and produce from the left… Gabriel Obertan!
The young Bordeaux player had attended the famed Clairefontaine football academy where players such as Henry, Anelka and Saha had refined their skills. His arrival at Bordeaux was met with great excitement! Limited however to sub appearances, he was eventually loaned out to Lorient. Obertan seemed to have been a player with great promise that didn’t ever reach his full potential. A U21 friendly against England helped him catch the eye of the Old Trafford boss and Obertan was soon a Red.
Ferguson has said that Valencia wasn’t brought in to replace Ronaldo. I think he is telling the truth. While we all stare down at Antonio and crit his every move, Gabbi gets stronger and stronger while recovering from a back injury. Having made a reserves appearance and now his senior debut in the Carling Cup, it doesn’t seem that it will be long until we see him in the Premier League.
Watch some youtube clips and you will see that this boy has blistering pace, silky skills, amazing tricks, great strength and goal scoring ability. Sound a bit like a certain Ronaldo?
Owen was handed the number 7 shirt by Sir Alex but I think that the long term successor of the iconic number will be the young Frenchman.
We could all have been looking right – Owen, Valencia.
But Fergie may just be getting ready to play his best card while we aren’t looking – Gabrial Obertan.
We all looked right. He appeared from the left.
LIVERPOOL MAY HAVE NOTHING TO BLAME
Liverpool will host champions Manchester United this weekend and what a game it promises to be.
I have been a soccer fan for a long time now but one of the games that really sparked my passion for football was on the 25th of May 2005.
Liverpool squared up to AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League final. Milan fired 3 past the Reds. Before anyone had sat down Milan where 1-0 up. The rest is history. Liverpool won in true English football fashion. One of the heroes of the night was Vladimír Šmicer. Who you ask? Well that is just my point – but I’ll get back to that shortly. Liverpool helped turn football from an interest into a passion for me. For that I will always be grateful! I have always, when asked, said that I am an England fan first. You can’t watch every game that is played so you have to choose one team to follow. Manchester United became that team for me. Hotspur under Ramos had a “buy English” policy that caused me to have a secret love affair with them. Liverpool still have the best English midfielder in Gerrard. I can watch any one of them and enjoy it.
I say all of this to let everyone know that although I love Man Utd I’m not biased in my opinion of other teams. Sure I enjoy a little banter. United have won the last three years after all… All that is to follow is not written in a United-fan-mocking way. Rather it is written as a football fan who has picked up some interesting facts.
Now back to Vladimír Šmicer. I have no idea who that is. I watched that game in 05. He scored Liverpools 2nd goal and their final penalty. Now however he is gone. Liverpool have had a massive amount of people come through their doors in recent times.
To jump straight to the point:
Liverpool lost against Sunderland because of their lack of squad depth. Liverpool without Gerrard and Torres are just another mid-table team. It’s true. Rafa has had a lot to say about the fact that United have more money available to them than he does but let’s look at some figures.
Since Rafa arrived in 2004 Liverpool have brought in 48 players. United have brought in 30. Liverpool had 18 players more – that’s a full team and bench!
Now, Liverpool signed Torres for a record £26.5 million. United signed Berbatov for the large sum of £30.7 million. Not all that much more really. The thing is however, United spent more on a single player but lets look at this:
Keane: £19, Bellamy: £6, Gonzalez: £4, Pennant: £6. Add that all up and you get a whopping £35 million! See where I’m going?
United may have spent large amounts of money on a single player but they buy the players that will do something for the squad. Out of the 48 Rafa has brought in, how many would be in the first 11 or even on the bench for other teams? You don’t see people ramming down the door to sign Ngog or Voronin.
Where I think Sir Alex has got it right (and therefore Rafa, wrong) is that he brought in the players his side needed to be strengthened. He needed a midfielder, so he bought Carrick. It cost him £18 million but since his arrival United have won three league titles and the UEFA Champions league and…
Rafa buys 10 young unknown players. Some of them work out. Some of them don’t. Sir Alex buys one or two expensive established players, and 4 unknown talents.
The thing is if you made a combined Liverpool/Man Utd 11 how many players from Liverpool would be in the side? Torres – definitely. Gerrard, I think because he is so good you dare not leave him out, not because United lack Midfield options. Carragher – maybe? That’s probably about all.
Liverpool are in desperate need of a good game this weekend. United need to close games out better. It will be very interesting to see how the match plays out. United are not in the best of form – Liverpool’s is even worse. Matches like this however always cause teams to play above themselves. I’m pretty sure that however close the game is to call, Liverpool without Torres and Gerrard have no chance at all! United could miss Rooney and that would be a blow but they have £60 million worth of PROVEN talent to fall back on. Rafa, for all the money he has spent, probably only has about £20 million. And it’s all his own fault.
The table above represents the clubs net spending per season since the arrival of Rafa Benitez at Liverpool.
Image from The Transfer League:
HARGREAVES – SAME OLD PLAYER, BRAND NEW KNEES
Manchester United had midfielder Owen Hargreaves back at training today for the first time in just over a year. He made only 2 appearances in the 08/09 season, before tendinitis problems forced him out. Now returning from the US, Hargreaves will be looking to join the rest of his team mates at Carrington and to find full fitness. United have missed a solid midfield enforcer and Hargreaves will be an invaluable addition to the squad – especially in Europe!
If all goes to plan we could see England’s favorite Canadian against CSKA Moscow on 3 November.
Let’s hope his knee problems are over for good, for United and England’s sake!
WHAT A DAY, WHAT A DERBY!
The Manchester derby just got hotter!
There was a lot of talk about yesterday’s match; who would win, who would play, who would score, who would get booked.
Man derbies haven’t always been classics but yesterday certainly was!
4-3 United. And what a finish! (Read here City fans moaning about the extra time.)
In summary: City played a bit better than United in the 1st half overall but the 2nd belonged to United.
United, with good, clever thinking went ahead after just a few minutes (the sign of a winning team).
Following some poor defending and a gift of a goal, City dominated the midfield and perhaps deserved the lead when Tevez got nothing but bar.
For me the real turning point of the match: Park off, Valencia on.
Mix that with Hughes pushing star man Ireland wide and United took control.
Cue more shocking defending and we were heading for a draw.
With minutes to go however, the man who would never have walked alone, found himself alone, in acres of space. Give Owen a ball in the box and it’s only going one place.
My heartbeat didn’t slow for at least an hour! The real winner? Football. (I think the commentator may have actually said that…)
